CC Pung’s dose of philosophical musings.
The writer is a Sabah Justice of Peace and Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and Labuan.
A lady friend showed me her pricy array of skin care products as she sighed ” what to do lah … cannot show my age..”
I thought that was vain. But what do I know. Vanity is a multi-billion dullar business. In China, millionaires are minted like a production line, and most come from selling on line such beauty products.
I was thinking: what about me and my image?
Answer: it’s a f…king non issue. Everything I do is showing my age.
I drive a bone-shaker with a CD player (who still use this?) that has a CCR (that’s Credence Clearwater Revival) CD stuck in it playing repeatedly “Suzie Q’, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Lodi’ and such John Forgety classics us Babyboomers can’t get out of our system.
Outside, one of my signal lamps is kept in place by clear duck tape since a cyclist knocked it free a while back.
The loafers on my feet are no longer anti-slip because the soles are worn out, or in local parlance ,’tyre no flower’ (visualise your thread-bare car tyres).
I wear a RM5 non descript Made in China hat to keep the sun out of my head which just had the barber’s attention recently.
This old pal is around my age and he charged only RM12 for a snip in about seven minutes.
Ive been visiting him for at least 40 yeats.
It’s at Foh Sang, the Chinatown of my city, in case you feel nostalgic and don’t fancy paying RM50 to have a young damsel asking all sorts of questions.
Image? What image? Coffee is RM2 ‘kopi o’ at any old kopitiam.
And I pay for it in cash though the shops accept a range of non-cash payment options.
In fact, I’m so comfortable with the old ways that I dare not think of visiting China where, I heard, even roadside hawkers and beggars are transacting on line.
When I was younger I read about ‘conspicuous consumption’ in rich societies where people constantly tried to compare, compete with their neighbours in a culture known at that time as ‘living up to the Joneses’. Looking around me, it seems that everyone understands that it is a bad idea to try to outdo the next guy. But very few can resist it.
It’s a strange world we live in. Isn’t it?
Tomorrow, my jalopy will still serve me good.
May be it’ll revisit that kopitiam at Kepayan where coffee is half the price of others, and its wonderful steamed pork bun goes for just RM1.50 while other places ask for RM3 or more.
Everybody is rediscovering the meaning of ‘stretching the dollar’s this climate of global uncertainties and economic challenges.
Editor: The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Talantang
